THE PRESIDENT’S CUP Table of Contents

Welcome 1

Tournament Rules 2

Tournament Roster 3

The University of at 4

Webster UniversityThe University of Texas at Texas 36

Texas Tech University 8

St. Louis UniversityThe University of Texas at Texas 103

About the Sponsors & Tournament Organizers 12

About the Marshall Club 143 Welcome to the Final Four!

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1 Tournament Rules Tournament Roster

Eligibility Board Player FIDE Title FIDE Rating USCF Rating Each player must satisfy the eligibility requirements established by the United States Chess Federation College Chess Committee. The requirements are the same as those for the The University of Texas at Dallas Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Championship. An eligibility letter on University letterhead must be presented to the tournament director. 1 Gil Popilski GM 2551 2648 2 Denis Kadric GM 2556 2600 Teams Each team has four players and up to two alternates. Board order, based on March 2017 3 David Berczes GM 2493 2584 ratings (50-point transpositions allowed), is the same as for the Pan-American. 4 Holden Hernandez GM 2501 2578 Scoring 1st Alt Dani Raznikov GM 2512 2577 The President’s Cup is a Team Round Robin scored by total individual points. In the event of a 2nd Alt Angel Arribas GM 2511 2562 tie, the teams are declared co-champions.

The following tie-breaking systems are for sole possession of the President’s Cup and will be applied in this order: Webster University 1 Liem Le GM 2718 2774 1. Total team match wins 2 GM 2675 2751 2. Head-to-head outcome Ray Robson 3. Armageddon, or a 5-4 minute shootout: White must win with 5 minutes, and Black must 3 Alex Shimanov GM 2642 2715 win or draw with 4 minutes. There is no delay or increment time. Winner of a coin toss chooses 4 Vasif Durarbayli GM 2616 2706 color. Each team selects one team member to represent them. 1st Alt Illia Nyznyk GM 2616 2577 Team rosters 2nd Alt Priyadharshan Kannappan GM 2527 2610 Official team rosters must be presented to the tournament director the Friday before pairings. Team lineup for each round must be submitted to the tournament director at least one hour prior to the beginning of the round. Otherwise, the initial roster for round one, or a prior Texas Tech University round’s lineup, is used for rounds two and three. 1 Andrey Baryshpolets GM 2571 2657 Pairings 2 Sergei Matsenko IM 2522 2576 The team pairings/seeds are predetermined by March 2017 USCF ratings. There will be a drawing for Round 1 and Round 3 colors on Board 1 at the Friday meeting before the tournament. 3 Pavlo Vorontsov IM 2474 2596 4 Luis Torres IM 2323 2356 Rd 1: 1 vs. 4; 2 vs. 3 Rd 2: 1 vs. 3; 2 vs. 4 1st Alt Iryna Andrenko WIM 2149 2270 Rd 3: 1 vs. 2; 3 vs. 4 2nd Alt Claudia Munoz CM 1857 2082 Official Time Controls Game 90 with a 30-second increment each move. St. Louis University Schedule of Play 1 Dariusz Piotr Swiercz GM 2646 2738 2 Yaroslav Zherebukh GM 2617 2695 Friday, March 24: Opening Ceremony at the Two Sigma Headquarters 3 Francesco Rambaldi GM 2556 2614

Saturday, March 25: Rounds begin at the Marshall Chess Club/Round 1 at 10 AM and Round 4 Cemil Can “JJ” Ali Marandi IM 2495 2583 2 at 5 PM. 1st Alt Nozima Aripova 1759 1908 Sunday, March 26: Round 3 at 9 AM/Presentation of the President’s Cup to the 2017 US Collegiate National Champion

2 3 The University of Texas at Dallas Chess Team

Grandmaster Gil Popilski Denis Kadric

USCF Rating: 2648 USCF Rating: 2600 FIDE Rating: 2551 FIDE Rating: 2556 Home Country: Israel Home Country: Bosnia Major: Computer Science, & Herzegovina sophomore Major: Accounting, junior Hobby: reading Hobby: listening to music

Grandmaster Grandmaster Holden Hernandez David Berczes USCF Rating: 2578 USCF Rating: 2584 FIDE Rating: 2501 FIDE Rating: 2493 Home Country: Cuba Home Country: Hungary Major: Computer Science, Major: Finance, senior graduate student Hobby: cooking & Hobby: hiking & working out racquetball

The University of Texas at Dallas Grandmaster Grandmaster Location: Richardson, Texas Dani Raznikov Angel Arribas Established: 1969 USCF Rating: 2577 USCF Rating: 2562 Mascot: Temoc FIDE Rating: 2512 FIDE Rating: 2511 Home Country: Israel Home Country: Spain The University of Texas at Dallas is an innovative institution in the heart of North Major: Software Major: Software Texas. Growing since its founding in 1969 to include 138 degree programs, the Engineering, sophomore Engineering, freshman University offers cutting-edge curricula serving a variety of undergraduate and Hobby: scuba diving Hobby: ice hockey graduate student interests. Joining the faculty’s Nobel laureate and six members of the National Academies are 550 tenured and tenure-track professors hailing from the world’s best colleges, The University of Texas at Dallas Chess Staff including Harvard, MIT, Cambridge and Columbia University. Students, meanwhile, are well-prepared to succeed in higher education: In 2015, 33 percent of freshmen ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school classes, and 64 percent ranked in the top 25 percent. The UT Dallas Chess Team has won national and international titles and regularly represents the University in the Pan American Intercollegiate Championship, the National Collegiate Chess League team championship and the Final Four of Chess. The team competes internationally in annual Internet matches with the University of Belgrade and has traveled to Beijing and Havana for exhibition matches. Director Assistant Director Coach Jim Stallings Luis Salinas Rade Milovanovic

4 5 Webster University Chess Team

Grandmaster Grandmaster & Team Captain & Co-Captain Liem Le Ray Robson

USCF Rating: 2774 USCF Rating: 2751 FIDE Rating: 2718 FIDE Rating: 2675 Home Country: Vietnam Home Country: United States Major: Finance Major: International Studies, & Management, senior senior Hobby: sports & reading Hobby: tennis, music & reading

Grandmaster Grandmaster Vasif Durarbayli Alex Shimanov USCF Rating: 2706 USCF Rating: 2715 FIDE Rating: 2616 FIDE Rating: 2642 Home Country: Azerbaijan Home Country: Russia Major: Economics with a Major: Business minor in Spanish, senior Administration, Hobby: CrossFit, soccer, graduate student ping pong, basketball, Hobby: ice hockey & poker reading & languages

Webster University Grandmaster Grandmaster Illia Nyzhnyk Priyadharshan Kannappan Location: Webster Groves, Missouri USCF Rating: 2577 USCF Rating: 2610 Established: 1915 FIDE Rating: 2616 FIDE Rating: 2527 Mascot: Gorlok Home Country: Ukraine Home Country: India Major: Computer Science, Major: Management & Leadership, Webster University is a Tier 1, non-profit private university with multiple branch Junior graduate student locations across the United States around the world, enrolling more than 22,000 Hobby: ping pong Hobby: movies, Indian music, & movies students. The University offers more than 100 undergraduate and graduate politics & reading autobiographies programs in a variety of disciplines, including liberal arts, fine and performing arts, teacher education, business, and management.

The Webster University Chess Team is currently ranked number one in Division I Webster University Chess Staff College Chess, a position it has held since the team’s inception in 2012. The team has won two world championships, 30 national championships, and 3 state titles.

Head Coach Coach & Assistant Coach Assistant Coach Grandmaster Chief Strategist Grandmaster Grandmaster Paul Truong Manuel Leon Hoyos Ashwin Jararam

6 7 Texas Tech University Chess Team

Grandmaster Andrey Baryshpolets International Master Sergei Matsenko USCF Rating: 2657 FIDE Rating: 2571 USCF Rating: 2507 Home Country: Ukraine FIDE Rating: 2522 Major: Economics, Home Country: Russia doctoral student Major: Interdisciplinary Studies, Hobby: soccer, tennis, graduate student skiing & traveling Hobby: sports & reading

International Master International Master Pavlo Vorontsov Luis Torres

USCF Rating: 2596 USCF Rating: 2356 FIDE Rating: 2474 FIDE Rating: 2323 Home Country: Ukraine Home Country: Mexico Major: Computer Science, Major: Mechanical sophomore Engineering, senior Hobby: sports, reading, math Hobby: sports, & computer programming video games & math

Woman International Woman Candidate Texas Tech University Master Master Iryna Andrenko Claudia Munoz Location: Lubbock, Texas Established: 1923 USCF Rating: 2270 USCF Rating: 2082 FIDE Rating: 2149 FIDE Rating: 1857 Nickname: Red Raiders Home Country: Ukraine Home Country: United States Major: Plant & Soil Sciences, Major: Mathematics, Texas Tech University is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. The graduate student freshman university’s student enrollment is the sixth-largest in the state of Texas, as of the Hobby: traveling, sports Hobby: church & spending Fall 2014 semester. The university shares its campus with Texas Tech University & gardening time with family Health Sciences Center, making it the only campus in Texas to house an undergraduate university, law school, and medical school at the same location. The university offers degrees in more than 150 courses of study through 13 colleges and hosts Texas Tech University Chess Staff 60 research centers and institutes. Texas Tech University has awarded over 200,000 degrees since 1927, including over 40,000 graduate and professional degrees. Since its inception in 2007, the Texas Tech Chess Program has captured more than 10 national titles, as well as regional and state championships. In 2015, Texas Tech won the Pan-American Championship and has qualified for the Final Four for the fourth consecutive year.

Head Coach & Outreach/Unit Associate Vice President, Program Director Coordinator Division of Institutional Diversity, Grandmaster Opal Gonzales Equity, and Community Engagement Alex Onischuk Dr. Paul Frazier 8 9 Saint Louis University Chess Team

Grandmaster Grandmaster Dariusz Piotr Swiercz Yaroslav Zherebukh

USCF Rating: 2738 USCF Rating: 2695 FIDE Rating: 2646 FIDE Rating: 2617 Home Country: Poland Home Country: Ukraine Major: Business, junior Major: Applied Financial Hobby: working out Economics, graduate student & running Hobby: philosophy

International Master Grandmaster Cemil Can “JJ” Ali Marandi Francesco Rambaldi USCF Rating: 2583 USCF Rating: 2614 FIDE Rating: 2495 FIDE Rating: 2556 Home Country: Turkey Home Country: Italy Major: Computer Science, Major: Economics, freshman freshman Hobby: writing code Hobby: reading & sports

St. Louis University Location: St. Louis, Missouri Nozima Aripova Established: 1818 Nickname: Billikens USCF Rating: 1908 FIDE Rating: 1759 Founded in 1818, Saint Louis University is one of the nation’s oldest and most Home Country: Uzbekistan prestigious Catholic universities. SLU, which also has a campus in Madrid, Spain, Major: Biology, junior is recognized for world-class academics, life-changing research, compassionate Hobby: knitting & yoga health care, and a strong commitment to faith and service. Guided by its enduring Jesuit mission, the University offers its nearly 13,000 students a highly rigorous and deeply transformative education that helps them Saint Louis University Chess Staff develop into bold, confident leaders. Rated among the nation’s top 100 research universities, SLU boasts more than 20 graduate and undergraduate programs ranked among the top 100 in the country by U.S. News & World Report. Academically, ethics, spirituality and compassion take center stage, while outside the classroom, members of the SLU community provide more than 1.6 million service hours each year — just one reason the University is consistently known as a character-building college. In fact, more than 80 of SLU’s courses integrate service into academics. Head Coach Assistant to the Vice President The Chess Team at St. Louis University was established in the fall of 2015, and this & Director of Enrollment and Retention will be the team’s first appearance at the Final Four Chess Tournament. Alejandro Ramirez for Diversity Engagements William Perkins 10 11 About the Sponsors

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12 13 About The Marshall Chess Club About the Organizers

Grandmaster Frank J. Marshall founded the historic Marshall Chess Club in 1915. The club was incorporated in 1922, and it has been headquartered at 23 West 10th Street in since 1931. The building, a beautiful brownstone on one of the most beautiful blocks in the city, was built in 1832, and it was purchased for Marshall by a group of wealthy patrons.

Frank James Marshall was born in New York on August 10, 1877. In 1895, the Mark Herman, Tournament Organizer Marshall family moved to Montreal where Frank joined the Montreal Chess Club, quickly established a reputation among the leadings players of Montreal by Herman is an avid chess player with 35+ years of design experience, resulting in winning the club’s championship. over 65 published game designs. He has worked in all dimensions of the gaming field, including serving as CEO of Victory Games, a design/publishing company, In 1896, Marshall and his family returned to New York. Marshall immediately consultant, and head of Modeling, Simulation and Wargaming for Booz Allen joined the Manhattan and Brooklyn Chess Clubs and soon became one of the Hamilton. He is an original thinker and innovator in game design and systems leading players in metropolitan chess circles. In 1897, he won the junior across all manual, PC and mobile platforms. This is his seventh year organizing championship of the New York Chess Association — a considerable feat for the Chess Final Four tournament. being nineteen years old. In 1899, he won the championship of the Brooklyn Chess Club.

In the 1900 International Masters Tournament, Marshall met the leading masters of the world for the first time, tying Géza Maróczy for third and fourth prizes and defeating both Emanuel Lasker and Harry Nelson Pillsbury in his individual games with these titans of chess. In 1904, Marshall divided first prize with Zwiderski at Monte Carlo. Then, he won first prize without the loss of a single Mike Hoffpauir, Tournament Director/Arbiter game in the international tournament at Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania. A Hoffpauir has been directing chess tournaments since 2000, having learned the tournament was arranged at St. Louis, Missouri, and when Pillsbury decided ropes under the scrutinizing tutelage of Senior Tournament Director Gus Gosselin that he was too ill to compete, the tournament committee announced that the of Massachusetts, NTDs Mike Atkins and Ernest Schlich from Virginia, and NTD winner would be recognized as U.S. Chess Champion. Marshall won the event, Francisco Guadalupe from Texas. but he did not officially accept the title until 1909, when he won a match with Jackson W. Showalter (the champion before Pillsbury). He held the title until 1936. This year’s President’s Cup is Mike’s 7th Final 4. Mike also has directed at other What was true then is true now: many of the country’s top players are members, national level tournaments for several years, having served as a Section Chief, both adults and fast-rising young players. Floor Chief or Chief Tournament Director (TD) at the U.S. Open, the SuperNationals, National K12 Grade Championships, National High School Championships, National Junior High Championships, and the National Elementary Championships. In 2014 Mike earned his FIDE Arbiter title. Mike retired from the U.S. Army in 2005 after 27 years of service and has been a Defense Consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton ever since. 14 15 THE PRESIDENT’S CUP